ASUS expects to launch its XG Station next month to OEM and channel partners -- no retail availability expected

Notebook users rejoice: ASUS is set to produce its XG Station external graphics card for notebooks. ASUS previously pulled the wraps off the XG Station at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. The XG Station will not have retail availability, however, ASUS plans to ship the XG Station to OEMs and channel partners.

ASUS will not sell the XG Station as a barebones external graphics card enclosure. Instead, ASUS will bundle the XG Station with ASUS PCIe graphics cards. Pricing on XG Stations will vary depending on the bundled graphics card.

ASUS’ XG Station takes advantage of a notebook’s ExpressCard slot to provide a PCIe x16 slot for additional graphical processing capabilities. ASUS demonstrated the XG Station with an EN7900GS graphics card at CES 2007.

In addition to the enhanced video capabilities, the XG Station features audio output capabilities. There is a single headphone output jack on the XG Station – sorry folks, there is no 5.1 output support. However, the XG Station supports Dolby Headphone technology for simulated six-channel surround sound audio.

Audio and video capabilities aside, ASUS equips the XG Station with a large LED display to monitor vital system information. The LED display shows the following information:

System master volume

GPU clock speed

Current GPU temperature

Dolby® Headphone feature status

Current actual Frames Per Second (FPS) information

GPU fan speed Indicator

A control knob allows users easy overclocking controls too. Overclocking functionality of the control knob is limited to GPU core clock though.

Expect the ASUS to release the XG Station to eligible customers next month. Pricing information on XG Station-based graphics cards is unknown now. Expect XG Station bundles to cost slightly more than an ASUS graphics card itself.

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